Brandon Rios knows he needs a victory against Diego Gabriel Chaves, and that it won’t be easy

In this file photo, Brandon Rios of the U.S. walks into the ring before his bout with Manny Pacquiao of the Philippines during their 'Clash in Cotai' WBO International Welterweight title fight on Nov. 24, 2013 in Macau. (Photo by Nicky Loh/Getty Images file)

Brandon Rios has made some mistakes in his career - such as losing his lightweight championship belt when he came in overweight for a defense against John Murray in December 2011, and then coming in overweight again when he was to try and win back that title against Richard Abril just four months later.

But Rios is not stupid. He knows that if he wants to continue to be looked upon as an elite fighter - and wants to continue fighting on HBO - he needs a victory Saturday when he squares off with Diego Gabriel Chaves of Argentina in the welterweight main event at The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas (on HBO).

“It’s do or die for me and I will do what I have to do to win this fight,” he said during a recent workout at his training camp in Oxnard.

Although Rios won the fights against Murray and Abril, he was not able to walk out of the ring with the title because of the weight issues. He then moved up to junior welterweight and won a thriller over tough Mike Alvarado via seventh-round TKO at Home Depot Center in October 2012. He lost to Alvarado via unanimous yet narrow decision in a rematch in March 2013, and then moved up to welterweight to take on Manny Pacquiao in November in China. Rios lost that by a wide decision.

There is no shame in either loss. But this is boxing and losing three in a row could result in Rios being kicked to the curb by HBO. It wouldn’t endear him to us reporters, either, not that he has ever seemed to care what we think.

Bottom line is, Rios is good for boxing. He has an electric toe-to-toe style, and he has never had a problem expressing his opinion. Promoters love that. But he needs this victory.

“I know what it takes to fight like a champion,” Rios said. “We went back to old-school training. I ate better, I trained better and I listened better to my trainer Robert Garcia. This is my biggest, most important fight. I am more determined and focused. I know what this fight means. This is a serious fight.”

Rios indicated a somewhat major change has come in the form of him not using a strength and conditioning coach.

“I won before without them, and I am going to do it again,” said Rios, 28. “I pushed everything behind me, including the fight with Pacquiao. This is my biggest fight because I must win against a very strong fighter in Diego Chaves. I am restarting my career by doing the things I did in camp when I was winning.”

Rios is right about Chaves. He’s no joke. The 28-year-old is 23-1 with 19 knockouts. His only loss came via 10th-round knockout to hard-hitting Keith “One Time” Thurman in an interim welterweight title fight in July 2013. No shame there, either.

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Interestingly, Chaves nearly didn’t make it to the U.S. for this fight. No thanks to a computer glitch in the State Department, Chaves as well as thousands of others could not get their visas processed even if they had already been approved.

Chaves finally arrived in town Thursday after a 15-hour flight. Among other things, he had to get his blood work done. Once he did, he checked his weight and hit the sack, missing that day’s final news conference.

Such a journey could hinder Chaves, thereby helping Rios, who vows he will emerge victorious.

“I like to win, that’s what the game is all about,” he said. “I promise I will win on August 2.”

Vargas to make first defense

“They now call me ‘The Pride of Las Vegas’ and it means a lot to me,” he said.

Vargas, who was born in Los Angeles, will get the opportunity to make his first defense in his backyard when he takes on southpaw Anton Novikov of Russia underneath Rios-Chaves. Vargas seems to understand this will not be an easy fight to win.

Style makes fights and this fight against Novikov is going to be a rough one.

“He’s a extremely well-conditioned undefeated fighter who is left-handed,” said Vargas, 25. “My trainer, Ismael Salas, has given me a game plan to deal with Novikov and the direction he moves. I won the world title against a left-hander, and here we are again.”

Novikov is not a heavy hitter - he is 29-0 with just 10 knockouts. But he’s expected to be technically sound. Combine that with being a lefty, and it sounds like he’s just the type of fighter who could win on points.

This is in Las Vegas, however, so Novikov addressed the notion that he might fall victim to local-boy favoritism.

“I am not worried about hometown scoring,” said Novikov, 26. “I plan to win every round.”

By the way, during the final news conference, Vargas warned Novikov about something as the two were posing for pictures.

Etc.

HBO will not only televise Rios-Chaves and Vargas-Novikov, it will televise a third fight via split-feed. That will feature Sergey Kovalev of Russia defending his light heavyweight title against Blake Caparello of Australia from Revel Resort in Atlantic City. Kovalev (24-0-1, 22 KOs) will be looking to make his third successful defense. Caparello is 19-0-1 with six knockouts. ... Jerry Belmontes (19-4, 5 KOs) of Corpus Christi, Texas, will go against Abner Cotto (17-2, 8 KOs) in the junior lightweight main event Thursday from Corpus Christi. The Golden Boy Promotions card will be televised by Fox Sports 1. Belmontes is known as “The Corpus Christi Kid.” ... We’re two weeks out from the Aug. 16 welterweight title fight between champion Shawn Porter (24-0-1, 15 KOs) of Akron, Ohio, and Kell Brook (32-0, 22 KOs) of England at StubHub Center (on Showtime). ... Former world champion Austin Trout (26-2, 14 KOs) of Las Cruces, N.M., will fight Daniel Dawson (40-3-1, 26 KOs) of Australia in the main event on Aug. 22 at Pechanga Resort & Casino in Temecula (on ESPN2), Goossen Tutor Promotions announced this week.